Why I will never spend another cent with Allegiant Air, and why even I am sad about it.
I got an amazingly cheap flight from Des Moines to LA to visit my older brother. It was $79.99 there and $19.99 back. With taxes, the total was $150ish. Incredible. I was sooo excited. My brother and I haven't spent enough quality time together for... too long, so it was going to be great!
On the day of my flight, I was running a little late (as is common with me), but since I only had a carry-on bag and it was the Des Moines airport, I wasn't too worried. I arrived with 25 minutes until boarding.
There was no line at the security check, so all I needed to do was check in and get my boarding pass. Only problem: Nobody was at the ticket counter. It was utterly deserted.
After talking to an airport security person, I found out that Allegiant closes it's ticket counter 30 minutes prior to boarding.
What??? I was dumbfounded. I'd never heard anything about that. Apparently, it does mention this at the very bottom of the confirmation e-mail, and it's easy to find if you're looking for it, but I'm fairly sure I read all of the material before purchasing the flight, and I don't recall anything about that.
The security person said my only hope was to get on an airport information phone where I had to call the paging system and have them announce "will an Allegiant person meet a passenger at the ticket counter?" over the intercom. Oh, and they told me straight up that nobody would probably come.
I waited 10-15 minutes before I even talked to anyone. Even then, it was just an airport worker who said he couldn't do anything.
When we realized there were 5-6 total people that weren't going to get on the plane, the worker said he could go out to the plane and see if anyone would come help us. He came back, but reported that no Allegiant person was going to come in until the plane had taken off.
At 8:25, we finally got to talk to an Allegiant representative. He pretty much said that if we weren't there at 7:50, we were SOL. No refund, no credit, nadda. It was our fault, so it was all on us.
I tried to talk some sense into the guy, but the other dude in front of me got really upset and started yelling that he wanted to talk to the guy's manager. He lied and said he was there 45 minutes before the departure (when I knew that he got there 10-15 minutes AFTER I did). By that point, anything I could have said to the Allegiant rep would have gone in one ear and out the other. I left sad, frustrated and feeling more than a little disrespected.
In the end, I lost all of the money from not only this flight ($80), but also my flight from Phoenix that I couldn't take because my friend decided not to move at the last minute ($150). With that flight, I lost $50 for canceling my flight, and got to use the rest on my flight to LA.
Plus, since Allegiant only has flights between Des Moines and LA on Fridays and Mondays, there was no chance of rescheduling.
My Issues:
- I didn't get to talk to a single Allegiant person for over 20 minutes.
- From how the airport workers sounded, it seems like this is the standard way Allegiant operates... With no regard for customer service. Zero tolerance, really?
- Let me say: I do take partial responsibility for the situation. I was running late... BUT... It's Des Moines... There weren't any other flights, so they weren't going to lose their spot on the runway. There was no line for security. I would have had PLENTY of time.
- Why would they close the ticket counter so early??? There was nobody in the security line, and all they had to do was print me a boarding pass.
- They made no attempt to assist a large group of passengers.
- If it's going to be such a strict cut-off time, they should make it much more obvious. Like BIG LETTER, stated multiple times, blatently obvious.
- Other airlines will at least give you the boarding pass and say they don't know if you'll make it, but wish you good luck!
What I wish Allegiant would have done/will do:
- At least had someone or something at the ticket counter to explain the situation. I didn't even know what was going on for 15-20 minutes!
- State very clearly, multiple times, that their ticket counter will close 30 minutes before departure. (But I think that's a stupid policy anyway.)
- Considered serving their customers with respect a priority.
- Refund/credit my ticket or allow me to reschedule. Or at least refund my original credit, since I've now paid for two flights that I haven't been on.
- At the VERY LEAST offered an apology.
We're all losers.
As soon as he heard I was going to miss my flight, my brother (who I was going to visit in LA and who is a frequent traveler) called the customer service line and tried to talk some sense into them. When they didn't have anything helpful to say, he said he "gave them a piece of his mind." They probably didn't care... He also did some online research and found some other interesting customer reviews:
- Allegiant Air - The Airline You've Probably Never Heard of.
- Allegiant Air; cheap no-frills airline proving cheap no-frills service
- This Airline Sucks!
- Some mixed reviews on RateItAll! http://www.rateitall.com/i-859334-allegiant-air.aspx and ViewPoints http://www.viewpoints.com/Allegiant-Air-reviews
My parents are flying from Des Moines to LA on Allegiant at the end of this month. Their flight is on a Friday, but they said they're thinking about getting to the airport on Wednesday *just to be safe*. We wish they didn't already have their flights booked, because none of us want to spend another cent with this company.
It sucks, too, because it would have been incredible to get $150 flights from the city where I live to my brother's. We don't see each other hardly enough, so it would have made bi-annual visits much more feasible.
I WISH I could still fly Allegiant. I would have been a loyal, frequent flier. As would my brother, and as would my parents. It WOULD have been awesome for all parties involved... We would have gotten cheap, convenient trips to see each other. Allegiant would have gotten our money (over and over).
But I can't fly Allegiant Air, because I don't believe companies should treat their customers like that. I won't, because it's a matter of principle.
And it sucks, because in this situation, everyone loses.
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I also have family in Los Angeles and go there once a year. The inexpensive Allegiant Air fairs have always been tempting but my dates usually don't work out with their two days a week they offer this service. I may try them out for the hell of it for a weekend getaway sometime with the understanding it could get hosed. If so, I'll video blog about it.
ReplyDeleteI can answer a few of your questions because I have asked them myself... This passengers asks why the airline closes its ticket counter 30 minutes before the flight: Allegiant does things very efficiently. The agents checking in passengers also load baggage and do all the ramp duties to get the flight out on time. This multi-tasking approach allows them to charge the 150 bucks that she paid for her trip while other airlines charge double and make passengers change planes in a hub city. I fly the airline a lot and when I see complaints, it is usually from customers missing flights because they were late in arriving at the airport and then they try to hold the airline responsible - just as the guy who lied about his arrival time to the airport. That example, right there, shows why the airline holds the line on the 30 minute gate closing rule. If they didn't, they would continually run a poor on-time operation and not be in business for long. Really... customers HAVE to take responsibility and actually read the terms they agreed to in the reservation - as should be done with any contract. I asked about the Allegiant folk's duties in the last 25 minutes: passengers have to be boarded with all luggage stored, a passenger count must be made and verified, the luggage inside the plane has to be counted and verified and the pilots have to do many fuel calculations and flight plan adjustments according to the weight of the aircraft. Someone coming on late causes those calculations to be redone. If the calculations cause the flight to be delayed it can cause takeoff problems and delay. While Des Moines might not be busy, the plane still has to enter the air traffic system in the allotment it was given for the flight. If the skies are busy the flight could be delayed and the airline faces a stiff government penalty. This flier admits to being late and it sounds like it is habit. The airline isn't at fault, the passenger is. The passenger shouldn't take partial responsibility - she should take full responsibility. She made a "deal" with the airline - the stipulations were all clear. The fact that she didn't read them, or says they were too small to find or not posted enough times, and was admittedly late for the flight puts the blame where it belongs. She is only punishing herself by not utilizing the great fares and service from Des Moines. She should grab another cheap flight, read the terms, be on time and go see her brother!
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